Comparative Analysis on the Effectiveness of Modern Roundabouts and 4-legged Signalized Intersections

The roundabout was developed in the United Kingdom to rectify problems associated with these traffic circles. In 1966, the United Kingdom adopted a mandatory give-way rule at alt circular intersections, which required entering traffic to give way, or yield, to circulating traffic. However, the roundabout used in United States or Europe do not common use in Korea. The purposes of the study is to comparatively analyze the effectiveness of roundabout. In pursuing the above, this study designs the scenarios which can reflect the directional traffic volumes, and analyzes the average control delay of roundabout and 4-leg signalized intersection by SIDRA. The main study results are as follows. First, when the entering traffic volume are less than 2,000pcph, the single-lane roundabout is analyzed to be more effective than 4-leg signalized intersection. Second, when the entering traffic volume are less than 3,200pcph, the double-lane roundabout is evaluated to be more effective than 4-leg signalized intersection. Third, which is installed left and right turn lane at intersection, area for the roundabout is analyzed to be less than that for general intersection area.